P450 million blown away

 

The government will now pay over P450 million for Gumare-Sepopa-Mohembo roads tenders after the Department of Roads approved variation of the tenders, Botswana Guardian has established.

The tenders were awarded in August 2022 by the Department of Roads to Bango Trading (Pty) Ltd and Rockefeller Civil Engineering (Pty) Ltd.

On August 23, 2022 the department approved Tender No: MTC/240/5/56/2021-2022 (5) shoulder reinstatement and asphalt overlay of Gumare-Sepopa (70km) which was awarded to Bango Trading at the tender sum of P110, 594,150.68.

Another Tender No: MTC 240/5/56/2021-2022 (4) request for award of tender was awarded to Rockefeller at tender sum of P97, 368, 989.73 for a work contract for the procurement of shoulder reinstatement and asphalt of Sepopa-Mohembo (70km).

Bango Trading and Rockefeller then applied for variations which were approved and published on June 8, 2023 on the Ministry of Transport and Public Works Facebook page.

Shockingly, these variations were approved at increased prices of more than double the amount of initial approved tender sums.

The tenders were published as: Tender opening for Gumare-Sepopa Road (30km) Tender No: MTPW/POU/DOR/WOR/11/2023-2024 for which Bango Trading placed a bid at the tender sum of P260, 833, 383. 98 and Tender No: MTPW/POU/DOR/WOR/12/2023-2023 for the procurement of cold recycling, shoulder construction and asphalt overlay of Sepopa-Mohembo Road (10km) Package 2 at the tender sum of P198, 871, 489. 50 for which Rockefeller placed a bid.

Efforts by this publication to solicit explanation from the ministry over the variations have not borne any fruit since January this year.

These 30km and 10km roads are variations of tenders that were awarded on August 23, 2022. Bango Trading was allowed to make variation of the initial award at extra P150, 239, 233. 30 for a 30km road while Rockefeller was allowed to make variation of the initial award at an extra P101, 502, 499. 77 for a 10km road.

Now, insiders at the Department of Roads say the powers that be should have called for re-tendering immediately when the two companies applied for the exorbitant variations.

'It does not make sense for the Department to pay more than double the initial sums agreed upon. This is unfair to other companies that tendered for these work contracts,' the insider said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport and Public Works Procurement Oversight Unit has approved a request for variation of contract from 70km to 36km for the provision of shoulder reinstatement and asphalt overlay of Gumare-Sepopa Road.

This tender was awarded to Bango Trading at amount of P110, 594, 150. 64 and the company requested variation from that tender sum to P80, 009, 904. 28 which is about 41 percent.

The decision was approved on May 22, 2023 after the Department of Road Infrastructure Development and Maintenance had applied for variation of Tender No: MTC 240/5/46/2021-2022 (5).

According to insiders, contractually the variation cannot be more than 25 percent as it is in this case. 'This is unfair to other bidders who were competing with Bango Trading as they were given unfair competition,' the insider said.

Another said it appears like Bango Trading is always given favourable treatment as evidenced during the ground breaking ceremony of the road in January 2023.

During the ground breaking ceremony, the Minister of Transport and Public Works Eric Molale allowed the company to vary the contract without going through the Oversight Unit.

Molale said they were aware that there will be need for importation of materials for filling in of certain areas.

'However, since the acquisition of burrow materials is a challenge around this area, other methods of making base of existing materials, improving the strength, as well as the life of the road will be considered,' Molale said.

On August 23, 2022 tenders were awarded to three companies Bango Trading (Pty) Ltd, Lempehu Investments and Rockefeller (Pty) Ltd.

After being awarded the tenders the three contractors wrote to the Ministry to change the tender scopes and the tender sums awarded for the three work projects.

'Evergreen (Pty) Ltd was awarded a tender near the same site as Bango Trading and applied to the Ministry to change the tender scope and their request was turned down,' the source said.

Bango Trading (PTY) Ltd also proposed the use of recycling method; that is ripping the existing asphalt and mixing it with gravel.

'This was not the initial specification of the contract. They are also proposing new rates to the client. The contract, according to insiders, cannot be varied more than 25 percent of the scope. This is corruption since other bidders did not have an opportunity to price for this.'

It has since emerged that Bango Trading (PTY) Ltd was also paid around P27 million by Roads Department for an alleged unfounded claim.

This claim was allegedly approved around September 2022 by the Permanent Secretary (PS) and Director of Roads.

'This claim was dismissed for many years as a not viable claim. It has been going back and forth for five years with different PSs and Directors and dismissed as baseless.

“It was for a section at Sehithwa-Shakawe road,' another source claimed. The claim was processed despite the fact that Arbitration and Dispute Association Board was not involved in the dispute as per the rules.

In January this year at the ground breaking ceremony substantive Minister of Transport and Public Works Eric Molale said the maintenance work would also include access roads to places such as Etsha villages.

Molale would later in May tell the Okavango District Council that the Gumare-Mohembo road maintenance, whose ground-breaking was done in January, would see actual work starting in June, as the Ministry and the contractor for the Gumare-Sepopa road had wrapped up issues that were lagging behind in the initial contract.

Molale also said that the road maintenance would include some access roads to the villages along the Gumare-Mohembo road such as Etsha 1, Etsha 6, Etsha 13 and Ikoga.

When signing a Memorandum of Understanding in Gumare on Sunday, Acting Minister of Transport and Public Works Aubrey Lesaso stated that the reconstruction of the Gumare - Sepopa Road (70Km) project has been awarded to Bango Trading (Pty) Ltd at a cost of P343, 896, 332. 06.

This, he said, includes reconstruction of Etsha 1, Etsha 6, Etsha 13 and Ikoga access roads. The reconstruction involves: Shoulder reinstatement, Asphalt overlay and Access roads.

He revealed that in early 2023, Molale visited the road and realised that despite the tender having been awarded, the road required significant scope increase to account for new details so that it could better serve the people of Okavango.

“Thus, significant scope revisions had to be undertaken in order that the road can be meaningfully utilised by people of Okavango, residents and visitors.

“In this regard, procurement process has been concluded and a decision has been taken to do reconstruction using a technique called “cold recycling” of distressed section of 36km between Gumare and Etsha 13, which will extend the design life by at least 10 years,” Lesaso said.

According to Lesaso cold recycling was identified as the best method to reconstruct the road, as there is scarcity of suitable gravel material in the area.

It recycles the existing material and saves on importation of material and time of construction.